Show off memories with this HP Sprocket photo printer. Print pictures from your smartphone by choosing them from the camera roll or a social media website. A rechargeable battery lets you print up to 30 pictures per charge and recharges in only 60 to 80 minutes so you can print on the go with this HP Sprocket photo printer.

Fun gadget!

Recently I was looking for something in my closet and I found my old Polaroid Pogo... I had put it away around three years ago and had forgotten all about it! Unfortunately I lost the AC adapter and they are difficult and expensive to find online. I remember how much fun I had with the Pogo so I figured I'd buy a newer version!
The Sprocket seemed to have better reviews than the Polaroid Zip so I bought the Sproket. It functions similar to my old Pogo, minus the full-size USB connector for connecting to a camera with Pictbridge technology. Size is similar, it fits in my Pogo sleeve. One huge improvement is no separate power adapter, it charges via mini-USB!
Picture quality is ok at best- black and white pictures come out with a reddish hue, and colors are muted; however, you can use the Sprocket app to edit the picture before printing, the wizard feature seems to increase brightness a bit which does make for a better print. It takes about a minute to print, plus the time to go into the app, select the picture, edit if needed and send to the printer.
I do miss the ability to directly connect a camera to the printer, nowadays it's done through your smartphone. This is fine if you take pictures with your smartphone or want to print from social media, but if you use a separate camera to take pictures you'll first have to get the pictures to your smartphone or social media account, which is an extra step from the Pogo. This is ok for me because I can send pictures from my camera to my smartphone and in turn to the Sprocket.
One downside seems to be that HP Zink paper is hard to come by; in fact, when I bought this Sprocket my local Best Buy was out of paper, and there was a woman asking the employee when they would be in stock, and he said it's sporadic and they sell out quickly. Get used to ordering online if you do a lot of prints! Luckily there is an alternate solution- you can use the Polaroid Zink paper IF you keep the HP sheet with the bar-code and put that in the Sprocket instead of the Polaroid one. Discussion forums online indicate that the paper itself is very similar if not exact, so this solution should work. I bought some packs of the Polaroid paper but have not used it yet, so fingers crossed!
Overall I'm happy with the Sprocket, it's a fun little gadget as long as you keep your expectations reasonable. It's a great conversation starter, bring it to a gathering take a few pictures and print them out and I guarantee people will ask you to take their picture!

I would recommend this to a friend

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Stormswift

Verified Purchase

Elite Member

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Like it a lot

Posted 2 years ago

Stormswift

Verified Purchase

Elite Member

I wanted instant prints for a photo journal. Today everything is on line, in social media & photo albums are all but gone. On the other hand grandma's photo albums or mom's scrap books are bulky. To me Photo journaling maybe a good compromise. Hp Sprocket is great for that purpose. Small, easily fits into a purse. Now as far as quality of the prints: I want to preface by saying that I am yet to take a digital pic that did not need to be tweaked or edited for one reason or another. In reading Sprocket reviews other owners stated that prints are somewhat matted, reds lean towards brow and whites have a slight tint. That is accurate. Knowing what to expect, I use photo editors (the one provided by Sprocket or any other I may prefer) to routinely "brighten" and boost up colors of the images I plan to print on Sprocket . The resulting images do not have the vibrancy you would see in your smartphone, but they have that soft quality that fits with journaling.
The setup was easy. It works off your Bluetooth. Manual not included in the box but easily Googled on line. Photo paper is easy to load: it is stacked correctly in the packet with glossy side up and blue configuration card on the bottom. Printer cover slides off, paper is loaded, cover replaced and long press on the side button gets printer started. Remember to bind phone and printer via Bluetooth and to turn on bluetooth on your phone each time you are printing. When reviewing an item its important to know what it does how it does it and if it fits with what you need it for. In isolated cases you would see negative reviews because of mechanical issues, but a lot of times review is negative because the item's specifications from the start did not fit in with the purpose someone got it for. If you expect Sprocket to produce studio quality prints-you would be disappointed. If you are looking for small prints that illustrate a story of where you've been and what you've done, selfies etc- Sprocket is vey nice for that purpose.

I would recommend this to a friend

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Lrhank

Verified Purchase

Elite Plus Member

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Way more entertaining than you’d think

I received the HP Sprocket as a gift and it’s by far my most used mobile accessorie ever. I work in retail and knew of the Sprocket but never really thought it more than a photo gimmick, especially with quality. I am very pleased to say it shot way above my expectations. Photo quality itself isn’t going to be the best, it is using Zink instead of ink after all. Considering it’s a pocket sized printer it gets the job done. One of the best features is the embedded Reveal. Once a photo is printed, you (or a friend/family member if they have access) could scan the photo and get some great information like where it was taken and explore the area with street view or flyover, some little facts about the place and it’ll show you other photos taken there. Another neat feature is printing layouts, you can have a photo take up 1, 4, or 9 sheets of the Zink paper so you’re not completely stuck with 2”x3” prints. But be sure to stock up on Zink paper, you’ll use more than you realize and at full retail prices it can add up so if you see any on sale, even just the 20 pack, get a few so you can fill up for a few months. Another downfall is the battery life, on average I get 12-15 prints per charge. Being indecisive and changing what I want to print, setting the printer to turn off automatically after 1 minute is a good way to save battery but that’s going to be all you can do to help so be sure to have a power source handy if you plan on printing quite a few at a party. Overall I love my Sprocket and would recommend it for just about anyone that’s sentimental.

I would recommend this to a friend

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LifeofaSouthernMom

Member

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Great Printer for On-The-Go!

Posted 1 year ago

LifeofaSouthernMom

Member

I was so excited to receive my HP Sprocket Photo Printer. I am the type of person when I take pictures on my phone or computer I never remember to print them out. With the HP Sprocket Photo Printer, I can print while I am on the go or from home. I can easily put it in my purse or bag as it is smaller than my hand. There is no ink, plugins, etc. that you have to use. Simply download the app and sync your mobile phone to the printer. Add the photo paper that came with your printer as it is already stacked correctly so that you can install the right way, glossy side up. There is no manual but the setup is easy as I said. After you install the printer paper, hold the long button on the side to power on your printer. Be sure your Bluetooth is always turned on when using the printer. When printing images be sure the image will fit properly for the small photo paper. You will not get professional images but instead, the images come out on the grainy side but great for creating images for a scrapbook, wallet size photos, sending smaller images to friends or family. I love this printer because it does what I want it to do. I printed my first two photos of my kids and put them in my car so they are always with me. cheesy to some I know. But I love it and the kids love taking silly photos and printing them out to show everyone. This is a great product for anyone who loves to take photos and needs to print them out right away. Kids have a game and you want to capture those quick snaps and print them right there, this is the product for you.

I would recommend this to a friend

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townsendhouse

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

5

Great for Memory Keeping

Posted 1 year ago

townsendhouse

As a mom, I am in charge of memory keeping for my family. Unfortunately, sitting down to make a beautiful scrapbook never seemed to work for me. With three children now, I know that I want to record the memories that we have as often as possible. Enter the HP Sprocket. I absolutely love how I can easily print pictures on this cute little printer to put in my Erin Condren planner as a memory keeper.
I take a lot of pictures of my kids, but almost always they are on my iPhone. Having an easy way to print those out whenever I want has been an absolute dream! I love the color, and the ability to print two pictures on one page. I can then cut them in half and they fit perfectly in my planner, which is now my memory keeper for my three children.
I especially love that there is no separate ink to buy, this makes it incredibly convenient and portable. It is easy to bring with us to family events so that everyone can get involved in the fun! One of my favorite things, that I hope to do more of as we have more events, is to bring the printer with me to family events. We then set up a little "photo booth" with props, and I can print the pics off for family to keep and bring home to commemorate the time we spent together. Awesome product!

I would recommend this to a friend

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Dave

Verified Purchase

Member

Rating: 1 out of 5 stars

1

Great Concept, But Buggy and Glitchy

I've had this printer for a number of months now, and I really wanted to like it and be able to use it. Unfortunately, it's so full of bugs and glitches it's practically unusable. Some examples: On almost every use, the printer freezes up and needs to be reset with a paper clip to get it to turn off. Half of the time the bluetooth connection doesn't work. If the paper isn't used within a week or two, the entire stack will "curl" inside the printer and can't be fed out. Randomly it will ask for the blue calibration sheet before it will print (and even then it can't print due to the curled paper). On virtually every time I've been out with friends and attempted to print a photo for them, it's taken a good ten minutes of trial and error, restarting, force restarting the app, etc. before I can get a single image to print (if at all). The recent firmware update didn't help symptoms at all -- and a career in tech support doesn't help make the bugs or warped paper go away, so it's not a case of user error either. As I say, I really wanted to like this little printer -- but it's so much of an exercise in frustration I'm actually embarassed to try to use it around anyone anymore.

No, I would not recommend this to a friend

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Brand response

HP Team

10 months ago

Hello Dave,

I'm so sorry that our "great concept" printer is giving you so much trouble. I hadn't heard of the paper curling before. Perhaps there is a lot of humidity where it is stored and a place that is drier would help.

The freezing problem is unfamiliar too. If the printer is still under warranty, you might consider getting a replacement.

Please contact our support team if there is something that we can help you with at: hp.com/contacthp

MaryHP Carehp.com/support

ipodlin

Verified Purchase

Member

Top 1000 Contributor

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

3

Prints as advertised and extremely portable

Posted 1 year ago

ipodlin

Verified Purchase

Member

Top 1000 Contributor

I decided to get this to compare it to the canon selphy as the operation and cost of prints are comparable, but this one is more portable and can fit in your pocket. This takes the usual HP printer internal page feeder design eliminating the need to have a ln external paper loader like canon selphy and prints in less than 30 seconds. the time from print command selection to end takes about 2 mins and the picture is viewable instantly. the biggest drawback is the cost of the paper. the canon selphy paper/ink is almost half the price and if you take size into consideration it is even more. i have only printed 3 photos and I am satisfied, but the compatibility is strickly with the app from google play store and the app is limited to viewing to viewing your social media photos and local photos. when i try to open a local photo that i took with my camera on my phone, i get a blank white picture as if the app cannot handle the resolution. I am unsure why this is and if I cannot figure out how to resolve this, i will probably return it. I was forced to buy the polaroid brand zink paper as the bestbuy store didnt have any HP brank zink paper. I have not tried the polaroid paper yet. my intention is to be able to take a picture with my nikon and immediately print it out of my pocket, but I do not see how it will work as HP forces you to only use the proprietary app. this would be really great for someone who takes a lot of pictures on their phone a and wants to print them on the go.

I would recommend this to a friend

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AJHernandez

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

4

Pretty OK

Posted 1 year ago

AJHernandez

I wanted a small photo printer for my travel journaling and saw this HP. I also saw the updated version that printed 30% larger photos, I couldn’t decide which I wanted and ordered both to find out which is better for me.
They both had the Zink printing paper with the sticker back and augmented reality capability. They both print just ok as far as quality. I needed to tweak the photos in edit before printing to get closer to the original photo. I noticed highlights were blown out and some were pretty grainy. I figured the smaller the photo the least noticeable the negatives would stand out. The difference was the cost of the unit and the paper as well as the size.
Depending on the need/use I’d recommend the Sprocket and the smaller/older model over the Plus because of cost and ease of finding the paper compatible. (The Plus does not allow use of the smaller zink paper)

What experts are saying

Rating: 3.7 out of 5 stars with 5 reviews

3.7 (5 Reviews)

The analysis of all aggregated expert reviews shows that the reviewers are positive about durability, design, performance and usability. Using an algorithm based on product age, reviewers ratings history, popularity, product category expertise and other factors, this product gets an alaTest Expert Rating of 93/100 = Excellent quality.

We take a lot of photos with our smartphones every day and that's exactly where they stay with few people bothering to print them but the new pocket-sized HP Sprocket can change all that. It is slightly larger than a deck of cards and connects toFull Review

The tiny, pocket-size HP Sprocket Photo Printer can produce wallet-size prints from your phone or tablet's photo albums or your social media accounts, but its output quality could be better.Full Review